Choosing hope.

Today, I have officially signed myself up for my first 5k!

It's a momentous occasion, definitely. I'm ecstatic. 3.2 miles seems pretty easy and I hope it's as easy as my brain is telling me it is. What my body will say will be determined at some date in September when I go for my 5k for Donna, all on my ownsome.

It's a virtual 5k. I know, I was a little confused when I first heard about it as well. From the website:



Race information
Registration is open now and closes September 30th and the cost is $25 - part of the registration fee's will be used to cover the cost of the medals, paypal fees, and postage - all remaining money will be donated directly to Donna's Good Things.

How far:
You decide - 5k or 10k (3.1 or 6.2 miles)  I'm holding this race to coincide with pediatric cancer awareness month, therefore, you can complete the distance any time during the month of September.  Feel free to run, walk or crawl!!  You can do it all at once, or break it up into smaller distances.  Feel free to use the results from another race you may have run - as long as its during the month of September.


Basically, you pick the time, you pick the place, and you just run. You run for Donna's Good Things, and you run for Donna. Donna has a story with a less than magical ending. She died at the age of 4 from cancer. I am not a mother yet, but every time I read the blog series her mother, Mary Tyler Mom, wrote about from diagnosis to Donna's passing, I feel for her and my heart breaks. I cannot imagine what someone goes through when their daughter has cancer, but Mary Tyler Mom wrote with the eloquence and soul that comes with a grieving mother, no matter how many years later. I love her. She's acknowledged me a couple of times on Facebook, mostly by liking a comment I wrote, and it totally makes my day. I get all star struck. Needless to say, to run a 5k for her daughter is a great honor and I'm going to be wearing the medal I receive from this in the Princess Half.

There was a mantra that Mary Tyler Mom had during her blogs (and into today): choosing hope. You can either wallow in all that's going wrong with your life, give up and throw the towel in, or you can choose hope. You may not know the outcome. You might be 99.9% sure of the outcome being the one you don't want, but you can always choose hope. My first 5k might end terribly, I might go through inhalers like they're going out of style, I might crash and burn at my own finish line, and my legs might never want me to walk again, but you know what? For this one, I choose hope.